Chameleon
by MarshmellowDragon
Summary: Teddy Lupin's first year has more mysteries than he'd like. Angela Leon is most of them.
1. Orientation

**C h a m e l e o n**

(i don't own either)

* * *

_Hogwarts would be honored to host a member of the Lost Clan. We understand that a volatile nature that has unfortunately permeated Mabaa's Community, and wish to help in any way we can. However, I am afraid that we are not suitably equipped to handle threats from a Clan that has long since terminated contact with our world. _

_Lord Death, if we are to accept Ms. Leon into Hogwarts, we would appreciate any protection that you could extend to prevent our students from falling in harm's way._

* * *

Angela wasn't impressed. The stupid old guy, Olive or Oliver or Otto or something, had been giving her sticks to try for _hours_ (or something like that) and none of them were working right. Well…ok. She _had_ managed to set Black Star's hair on fire with that unicorn one, so she still couldn't figure out why the storekeeper wouldn't let her have it and just be done with it all.

The brunette sighed as old guy emerged from another row of shelves, carrying yet _another_ thin brown box under his arm.

"Vine. Dragon Heartstring. Nine inches even. Quite flexible. If you would, Ms. Leon?" Ollivander was far from flustered. After all, his newest customer was just shy of the half-hour mark. There was a ways to go until she came anywhere close to setting records.

* * *

Tsubaki gave her a packed lunch for the train, all her favorites bundled neatly inside of the bento box. Predictably, Black Star stole and had already eaten most of it by the time they made it to platform 9 ¾ on September 1st, but the ninja weapon only smiled and slipped her another one through the window before the train left; this one a kyaraben shaped like a chameleon's grinning face.

"Write us!" Tsubaki reminded with a smile so wide that it was obvious she was about to cry. Psh. Only babies cried. Angela outgrew crying _years_ ago. "We got you that owl for a reason, Angela-chan!"

"We?" Black Star added in without prompt, haughty tone totally ruining the mood. "_I_ got her a chameleon. Way cooler than an owl."

* * *

Uncle Harry had told him at least 50-billion times how he'd met his best mates on the Hogwarts express, so Teddy figured it'd be best to find an empty cabin and let the lifelong friends come to him. Picking them himself was just _asking_ for trouble. But the train was pretty full by the time he finally hugged Granny Dromeda goodbye, and he was quick to realize that there were no more empty compartments.

Ah well. Picking the first compartment at random, Teddy poked his head inside to see a girl (maybe a first year like him?) already in her robes. He blurted a question out before he could think otherwise. "Why're you already in your robes?" Personally, he finds them rather itchy.

"That's a stupid question." The brunette was quick to bite back as she rubbed a hand over her eyes. (Crying?) Maybe not a lifetime friend, but she'd do for amusing company on the long ride to school. Shrugging, he dragged his trunk in behind him.

"I'm Angela Leon." She says while he's busy trying to get his stupidly large trunk to stay on the rack. Granny Dromeda had packed so much clothing that he'd barely had enough room for anything else. Like comics. Or sweets. Or his Quidditch posters. "That's Masa, my owl, and this is Mifune. My chameleon."

"Huh." He said, chewing on that. Chameleon. Chamelon. Suddenly, brunette girl was a little more interesting. Plopping down in his seat (finally! Stupid trunk) it only takes a thought to change his hair from its normal muddy brown to a nice bright green.

"Teddy Lupin." He grinned. "Also a chameleon."

* * *

_You __**are**__ an interesting one aren't you?_ The hat whispered into her ear. Sort of. The low mumbles were too clear for Angela to believe that for long. It was totally in her brain, wasn't it? Ew. Ewww.

_I assure you,_ the hat chuckled, _I am quite tame compared to what you will find here at Hogwarts._ Hey! She'd seen crazy stuff before. Men turning into chainsaws, for one. Just…nothing so…invasive.

_So_, he continued nonplussed, _a witch from Mabaa's clan? You did well to come when you did. Your wandless magic-_

Yeah, yeah. She got it. Giving into insanity from her own power, turning on the ones she loved, finding her name on Shinigami-sama's list of witches whose souls needed to be reaped, etc. Blah blah blah. She'd heard this spiel before. Didn't need to hear it again.

_Such a temper_, he (it? But the voice sounds kinda boy-ish…) continued on in that almost condescending tone. _Ah, but you are afraid, aren't you? You're afraid of what will happen if this arrangement doesn't work. Your surrogates have tried, haven't they? And that swordsman-_

She didn't want to hear this. Didn't need to hear this. Forget it, she wanted to say. She could just go pick a table at random.

_You have clear goals in mind. You're prepared to betray your very nature to protect those who you care about. _Here the hat paused, and Angela could have sworn that she felt it digging further into her brain, deep, deep, deep…

_And you want to survive._

"My dear girl," Now it spoke to everyone, and there was a brief moment where she feared that it would relay the mental conversation for all to hear. "You are in SLYTHERIN!"

* * *

Teddy hadn't expected to be a Hufflepuff. Not that there was anything wrong with Hufflepuffs! His mum had been one, after all. But…a badger? It was just, well, god this was embarrassing, just that, lions were way cooler. They had claws and fangs and ferocity! What did badgers have?

The hat had probably seen that he was too smart to be a Gryffindor. Must've been it.

"As I assume you have all noticed, we have some new faces not only among your fellow students, but within our staff as well." Headmistress McGonagall's voice cut through the lingering murmurs like a grindylow through seaweed. "I hope you will all join me in greeting Professor Neville Longbottom, who will be taking over for Professor Sprout as our new Herbology teacher." Finally a face he recognized! It was like a security blanket, Uncle Neville was something close to a piece of home in this far away castle where it seemed like everything was so familiar, and at the same time…not.

The newly minted herbology professor briefly stood to distinguish himself from the crowd of teachers and Teddy tried to catch his eye and throw in a wave, but it was lost somewhere among the jumble of students in front of him. The Gryffindor table still hadn't finished their cheer before McGonagall retook the podium.

"Also, we welcome medi-witch Kim Diehl who has chosen to aid Madame Pomfrey in the ever mounting task of keeping you healthy. A particularly daunting task when one considers how many of you insist on testing your transfiguration spells on other students." Was her hair…pink? Teddy wondered if maybe she was a chameleon too. The new witch waved briefly from her seat, but no table welcomed her louder than any other. Huh. Not a Hogwarts grad? She looked young enough that at least the seventh years should've recognized her.

"And finally, Ms. Maka Albarn is our school's new caretaker this year-" the rest of the Headmistress's speech was drowned out in a resounding cheer from every student who wasn't a first year. Made sense. Every aunt and uncle he's got has at least _one_ horror story about Filch. But it's still pretty loud.

"Do you _see _that skirt mate?!" One upperclassman roared to another and…it _couldn't_ just be because of the miniskirt-

-could it?

"However, please do not be surprised if you spot Mr. Filch wandering the corridors, as he is currently facilitating Ms. Albarn's transition." The collective groan was schoolwide, so Teddy figured, no, it wasn't just the miniskirt.

Thank god. Miniskirts were cootie-generators, after all.

* * *

The Slytherin dungeons vaguely reminded her of Baba Yaga Castle. But whereas her bright and colorful room in that castle was practically a freezer, here the dark and dreary stone was actually quite pleasantly warm. And the house elves? Soooo much nicer than the random Arachnophobia guys. Less on the insane side too. Kind of. Depended on your definition of crazy. There was at least something a little mental about looking forward to cleaning toilets.

Three other girls shared her room, which was about the same size as the one she had back at Baba Yaga. The closet-that-really-wasn't-a-closet-but-was-still-just-as-small-as-one that Black Star and Tsubaki had let her use for her room back home couldn't even compare to this; four-poster beds with thick green quilts and porthole-ish windows that let her see out into the murky depths of the Hogwarts Lake.

Garnet, the first roommate she met, reminds her of a female Black Star, minus (most) of the stupidity; constantly active, incredibly loud, and not too good with written homework. Angela had no idea what Quidditch was for all of about five seconds, because after that point, her roomie's gawking is over and she breaks out the models.

This is also the first time she hears the name Harry Potter, though not in the same context that most do. As she later learns, there is only one boy (now a man) who has been hit with the killing curse (twice!) and lived to tell the tale. But for the next three months, she only knows the bespeckled face as that of Gryffindor's once Quidditch captain and seeker.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your outlook), Angela misses most of the explanations of the rules and all descriptions of all seven hundred possible fouls. She's too busy trying to figure out how a 70 kilo ball of iron doesn't flat out kill a person from impact.

In all, Garnet is great. One track mind, but still, _anything_ was better than sharing living space with Black Star.

But the deal clincher for this joint?

The giant squid liked to swim by her window.

* * *

Slytherin and Hufflepuff had Transfiguration together, so Angela stole a seat next to Teddy before one of his housemates got the chance. He stared at her for a moment, then another, and eventually another.

"What?"

"You're a Slytherin." He pointed this out as if it wasn't as obvious as the badge on her chest. What? It wasn't like this was _normal_. In every story he'd heard (and he's heard soooo many) people had stuck to their houses. Sure, Uncle Harry was friends with guys from other houses, but he didn't _hang out_ with them.

"And?" The brunette continued, pulling parchment from her satchel as if she had no idea what was going on. Hah. Right. Teddy continued to stare as if she's grown a third head. "Y'know, I don't think you make a good blond." Cheeks somewhat pink (it's not his fault his hair has a mind of its own!), Teddy was quick to try and force it back to brown.

Angela was pretty sure she had an idea of what this was about. This was only day three, but blood purity was explained back on day one thanks to an upperclassman from her house. A long and mind-numbingly-boring recitation of Slytherin's reputation followed right after. Home of most tricks and pranks pre-Fred-and-George-Weasly, cool. Also home of the most blood-based bias in the whole school…not so much.

And there's that thing about Moldemort, or Voldevort, or whats-his-face. (Wizarding history? _Definitely_ not her strong point.)

"You're a Slytherin." He repeated.

"I'm also a witch, didn't 'cha know?" He laughed at that, and Angela considered it a victory in battle; now to win the war. "I don't see what this whole house deal is about anyway." The brunette pouted, slumping downwards in her seat. "There were like…six of us together on the train. And counting me only two of us ended up in Slytherin! And they make it so _hard_ to talk to people outside your house…"

That _was_ true, Teddy wanted to agree. But it's Hogwarts! It's like…tradition. A school thing.

"I've heard it was harder before the second war. You know the school paper? The Hogwarts Herald?" Angela nodded, despite having never known of its existence before this very moment. Eh, what was a little white lie?

"It used to be Hufflepuffs only. Same with the Slytherins and the swim club. And the Model Magi-Conferences were just for the Ravenclaws. I think Gryffindors had fencing a while back…?"

Huh, and here her roomie Brenna had gone and signed up for the Model Magi-Conference. About to tell her tablemate this, Angela paused. Waitaminute. Had he…did he just say….?

"War? What war?"

"My granny was a Slytherin." Teddy added in out of the blue. _Deflection!_ Angela wants to scream. What _was_ it with people and not telling her stuff? "Sweet old lady she is too."

She really was about to yell at him when a moose suddenly trot into the room without preamble. It gazed at them all for a moment with one giant black eye, expression non-plussed. Sure, Angela had heard that Hogwarts got a little…wacky. But nothing like this. Then, pushed by some unseen force, the moose easily ambled towards the podium and stopped behind it, snorting once.

And then, there was suddenly a witch in its place.

"So!" Chirped Professor Ritter, "Who's ready for transfiguration?"

* * *

Teddy hadn't been meaning to spend the day spying, but, well…When it was shoved in his face like it had been, it was impossible to turn down the opportunity.

This was the explanation he'd chosen to use if any of his friends found him like this, crouching behind a shelve of books and sneaking glances over his shoulder at the tomes that Ms. Albarn was pulling from the shelves. Try as he might, he couldn't quite catch a glimpse of the actual titles, but the fact that this whole section was filled with sketchy leather-bound research journals _couldn't_ mean anything good. Right?

If he'd learned anything from listening to Uncle Harry's stories, it was that suspicious people were usually up to something. And Caretaker Maka looked like she was most definitely being suspicious. People that pretty had no reason at _all_ to be following in Filch's footsteps.

"What are you doing?"

…Oh _crap_. A familiar warmth on his scalp alerted Teddy that his hair had probably just changed color from the shock. The caretaker only raised a slim eyebrow, patiently waiting for whatever answer he managed to throw together in the next five seconds.

Except he didn't have an answer. Teddy kind of just stood there, mouth open and looking very much like a deer caught in the headlights.

"You know, people don't appreciate being spied on. It's not polite." And she walked right past him. Just like that, he was off the hook! Obviously, her suspicious plan called for more stealth than killing a student would allow! Or…there was no plan, but that was just what she _wanted_ him to think!

Anyway, one good thing had come out of the embarrassment he'd made of himself for getting caught. When Caretaker Maka had leaned over to glare at him, he'd caught a glimpse of the book she'd held in her arms.

_Blóð Blóðmör_

…Whatever the hell that meant.

BUT IT WAS STILL SUSPICIOUS!

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen, that was an amazing bludgeon by first-year Garnet Tribal! I think Brahne is _still_ spinning!" Angela's cheer was drowned out by the other Slytherins, but it was the thought that counted, right? Her second roommate, Brenna, and she waved the giant silver and green banner that they'd constructed for their friend's first game, hoping that Garnet would maybe spot it as she went whizzing by.

It was too bad that the more senior beater, a sixth year by the name of Zachary Canary, had gotten that concussion during practice, but what could you do? Play with less dangerous equipment? Pshah.

"THEY MUST LOSE SO MANY BRAINCELLS!" Brenna shouted over the roar of the crowd, gesturing to her head as if it'd get the point across. It didn't, and Angela couldn't actually hear the words, but she laughed anyway. The wintery air was practically gnawing off her nose, and she had a headache from all the screaming, and Slytherin wasn't even winning, but it was _fun_. She could taste the magic in the air, and she wasn't some weird witch different from anyone else.

It…fit. She fit.

The insanity wouldn't get her here. It couldn't.

* * *

_Um…yeah. Random idea inspired by brainstorming with Kashii Ai on the mechanics of integrating SE and HP. Hah. Orignally, this was gonna be a simple one-shot with some slice of life of Angela at Hogwarts. And then it grew a plot and a second, then third, then fourth chapter. Go figure._

_So, who wants to guess which OC is a self insert?_


	2. Midterms

"Caretaker Maka is really suspicious." Angela choked on that. That…may or may not have been Teddy's fault, seeing as he'd snuck up behind her while she'd been walking to class and possibly maybe spooked her. But, details.

"What?" Sure, it may have sounded kind of funny at first, but Teddy had been seeing signs and proof of it everywhere nowadays, so it couldn't be just a coincidence.

"You think the _caretaker_ is _suspicious_?" She didn't have to make it sound so dumb though. Meanie.

"Yeah. I do."

"Why…?"

"She's always hanging around the corridors-" Like that one time he'd been running from Transfiguration to Potions, and she'd stopped him in the hallway just to _glare_ and generally make a nuisance of herself. Professor Slughorn hadn't believed him when he'd tried explaining; though, that part might have had something to do with how awful he was at potions.

"-I think she's _supposed_ to do that-"

"-And watching us reeeeeeeeeally carefully. Like my owl when he's hungry."

"Again, I think-"

"Plus, I always see her leaving our classrooms before we go in. Verrrry sketchy."

"She's a _caretaker_."

"Have you seen the books she reads?"

"…Are you stalking her?"

"And she's not a witch either."

"That Hagrid guy who took us across the lake wasn't either! He said so!"

"Geeze, you don't have to get so defensive about it."

"I'm not defensive!"

"You are."

"Am not!"

"Most definitely are."

"I am not!" And Angela stormed off.

Wow.

That could have gone better?

* * *

_Hey Tsubaki-nee!_

_BLACK STAR, YOU BETTER FEED MASA! I told him to bite you if you don't!_

_School's going fine. It's not too hard, but we haven't done a lot of practical stuff yet, so I'm not really sure if this wand thing is actually working, or if I'm still about to snap and kill you all. I know, I know. You don't like it when I joke about that, sorry._

_And, DID YOU KNOW THERE'S A GIANT SQUID???? IT'S SOOOOOO COOL! Can we get one? Pleeeease?_

_Can you ask Maka to stop stalking me? I'm __**fine**__. She's acting like I'm going to run off any minute. It's bad enough she tags me in the hallways, but I think she's scouting out classrooms before I enter too…! I know she's lonely without Soul here and all, but can you tell her to go get a hobby? Pleeeeeease? It's freaking out my friends that the new caretaker goes everywhere I do._

_Oh! Yeah! About that! I've got a new friend. Two. Three. Er, five. Six if you count my roommate who hates my guts. You'd like one of them, Brenna,…_

* * *

Halloween was traditionally the start of whatever annual evil plot threatening Hogwarts, so Teddy was doubly careful and triply on guard, because he didn't wanna miss anything evil that may have been underfoot. Or overhead. Or on the walls. Anyway, he checked the pumpkin pasties for sleeping spells the chocolate frogs for leglocking jinxes, and, of course, listened for trolls in the bathrooms and giants in the broom closets.

When nothing reared its troublesome head, Angela tried to cheer him up by turning his book on defensive spells into a jack-o-lantern. Except it backfired and turned her face orange and her hair green. Kind of like those oompa-loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In between snorts of laughter, Teddy suggested that she should use that as a Halloween costume. Somehow, she's not amused.

Watching Madame Pomfrey chew out Angela is about as exciting and/or evil as Halloween gets.

* * *

Kim had warned her not to do this, not to attempt, not to even think about. Their brand of magic was _just that dangerous_, she'd said. Angela could see her point. She'd been on the receiving end of Eruka's bombs once; attack magic had a mind of its own and generally wasn't practiced unless the witch in question wanted something blown up (which, actually, was quite often).

But invisibility…that couldn't be too bad? Chameleon Witch Angela Leon. That was her; her title. If you listened to the Witches' Covenant, it was all that mattered. It wasn't brain surgery to figure out what animal she had a bond close enough to that she could try to copy their skills.

And once upon a time, when she'd been encouraged to grow and mature and refine her powers, she'd gotten so close. Mifune had said that if she was invisible, none of those bad guys would ever find her again. Ever.

She hoped that would still hold true.

"_Cama Lama Cama Chameleon. Hide me Keep me Hide me Safe. One with earth One with air One with all. __**Invisible**_" As the final word left her lips, the witch could feel the power tug at her heart. It pulled and she pulled back, willing it to rise up from the dredges of her soul and cover her from all eyes.

Or something poetic like that. Magic liked being all high and mighty and poetic and wordy (it'd made her say the whole stupid incantation!), but she really couldn't see the point. Whatever, result time.

Cautiously she risked opening an eye. No nose. She glanced down. No torso, no feet, no left hand. _Please work…_ She opened her right eye.

And her right hand stared back defiantly at her.

_Dammit_. Sighing, the witch took a seat in one of the plush armchairs of the Slytherin common room. At three in the morning, no one was up but her and a few of the magical pets that liked to slither around.

"What's wrong with me?" The ceiling offered no answers, unfortunately. Would've been nice if it had. This was just a basic level spell. The kind that most Minor Sisters had down pat by age six. The kind that she _would_ have mastered if she'd just bothered…bothered what? Running away from Shibusen?

_It's this stupid wand. It's a limiter. Puts a cap where there shouldn't be a cap._

"I'm a witch. Why can't I do this!?"

_Shibusen would hold back any witch. They held back Kim didn't they? The last Tanuki witch was able to revive a body from the dead at this age._

"It's not fair!" Her lone visible hand slammed into the armrest of the couch. Like a ripple from the impact, visibility spread over the rest of her body. "Not fair." She sniffled, draping an arm over her face. "Not fair."

* * *

Angela didn't need a wand. Teddy wondered if that meant she was really skilled, or if he just really sucked.

They were in charms one day, practicing the swish and flick of Wingardium Leviosa, and the only one who hadn't made her feather move was the Slytherin brunette. After a good half hour and no results, she'd gotten pretty fed up. Teddy was rather sure that no one else noticed and told her so, since everyone was busy sticking their tongues out and concentrating on making that defiant bit of fluff float that much higher in the air.

But Angela didn't believe him, muttering something about how everyone was obviously laughing at her, and he just couldn't see it. And that was that. She smacked her wand on the table, grumbled the words and made the feather float _with just her hand!_

Teachers were really picky about learning the basics, so he could see why Angela made it look like she'd done it with her wand for Professor Flitwick. BUT it was maybe the single most awesome thing Teddy had seen all year and he was more than amazed that he got to see it.

He told Angela this, and was duly confused when she got mad and didn't talk to him for a week.

* * *

Quiet, bookish Brenna made Angela wonder if the sorting hat was really the expert on who should go where, since her roomate seemed way more like the pack of equally introverted Ravenclaws than her fellow Slytherins, who were more prone to "finding" a friend's answers then looking it up themselves.

Hogwarts didn't generally permit students to skip a year of classes. Even if they'd already done the equivalent of first year theory on their own time, getting a student's license to practice some of the more advanced magic at home was more impossible than synthesizing a philosopher's stone from red paint.

Or so Angela had heard during one of Brenna's frequent rants; it wasn't like she actually knew what a philosopher's stone was anyway. It was just that one of the few topics her roommate had chosen to be vocal on was the subject of Hogwarts' "Lax attitude toward education that is the driving reason why so many English witches and wizards find themselves falling behind their comrades from other wizarding schools." Brenna's words. Not hers.

Though, Angela wasn't complaining. Come exams, Brenna was indispensable. She'd learned all the content _twice_, and thrown in a bit of extra tidbits just for the hell of it. If anyone was going to get her through exams, it would be her roommate. Shibusen didn't have exams until you were a certified meister, Angela remembered sourly. Not fair.

"Come _on_ Angela. These are thirty percent of your first semester grade. If you fail, they might make you take extra classes!" And that was something the brunette definitely didn't want.

* * *

She doodled a lot, especially during History of Magic. Hell, _everyone_ did something else during History of Magic. Sleeping through first year History was supposed to be a rite of passage.

Anyway, what was surprising was that Angela was pretty good with a pencil. The man she drew at the corner of almost every page was usually the same; Teddy could see the resemblance in the longish hair, the same shaded overcoat and the funny little stick that was always poking out of his mouth. He wonderd if the redhead even realized who or what she was doodling half the time.

'_Who is that?'_ Teddy scribbled on her page one day, drawing an arrow to point to the figure of a man lounging in the corner. Angela paused with the tip of her quill in her mouth, and Teddy wondered if she realized that she was glaring at him.

Finally, she answered. But not with words. Instead, Angela drew the gallows of a hangman game, and added six spaces underneath. '_If you can get it,' _she scrawled underneath in her messy handwriting, _'then I'll tell you.'_ The message ended with a little smiley face that Teddy was pretty sure was supposed to be mocking him.

Teddy was horrible at hangman (And Angela knew it! Cheater!), so it wasn't very surprising when he lost.

* * *

Astronomy sucked. It took every fiber of will that she had to get out of bed the morning after, because really, eleven year olds shouldn't be running on two hours of sleep. Garnet heartily agreed with the sentiment, and after much groaning and moaning and loafing about, the two managed to shuffle towards the Great Hall for breakfast using each other as mutual support.

It didn't take too long to stagger up the steps from the dorms to the common room, and on to the wall that hid the Slytherin lodging away from other houses. Though, there was traffic to be found at the exit. Dazedly the two roommates stared at the mob surrounding the dorm's exit wall. _The hell…?_ Angela managed to think.

Waitaminute. What-?

Energy suddenly returned, the brunette scrambled up, urgently. Planting an elbow on Garnet's shoulder and a knee on some random bystander, she managed to catch a glimpse of the Slytherin wall. Bright red letting stared right back at her in all its wet painted glory. (Shinigami-sama please let it be paint, please oh please oh please)

_Joma Joma Dabarasa_

Somehow, the words seemed much more sinister now.

* * *

The last week of class before exams, and Angela had gone missing. At first Teddy figured she'd come down with something and was slacking off in the infirmary while the rest of them worked their fingers to the bone to review for all these stupid classes.

But no, she wasn't there.

The professors didn't care when they had to skip over her name during attendance, which means they knew where she was. But every time he asked, they just shooed him onto his next class. Mean.

It sucked, since he'd made his hair to look like a Christmas tree and everything to celebrate the winter break. His mates thought it was great, but Angela was the one who always got a kick out of his impersonations.

Exams come and go. (oh how he hated them so very much. In muggle school, he wouldn't have had any for two or three years yet! They're all stupid and long and worst of all, boring)

Angela still didn't turn up.

* * *

Maka always scared her, just the tiniest little bit. Probably because her earliest memory of the woman was of her delivering a brutal chop to Black Star's head. Not that he didn't deserve it or anything, but there was always the lingering thought of_ it could be me next…_ that Angela tended to worry about.

"But why?! Why only scare her? They had the perfect chance and-!" Actually, Angela was quite happy they _only_ tried (and succeeded) to scare the living daylights out of her thankyouverymuch. But she didn't say anything, Maka's march was too intense, too angry, and the brunette was afraid she'd snap at the slightest poke.

Headmistress McGonagall, obviously, didn't have the same fears. "If you would, Ms. Albarn, please sit. While I'm sure all that pacing is quite good for your figure, to be frank, it's making me dizzy."

"From what we've uncovered, the intruder wasn't actually able to infiltrate the dorms. The…message was written on the portion of the wall that was in the common corridor, and when a student went to leave the dorm this morning, they saw the words when the wall swung around." Kim's tone was calm, though her hands were shaking slightly as they gripped a mug of tea.

"We were under the assumption, Professor, that the wards you'd place would alert us if anyone entered without consent. Maka can distinguish between most souls easily enough with fair warning, but just happening to pick through a witch's soul protect by chance in a school that is a magical entity on its own, to say nothing of its students, is impossible." Jackie took over the slack, her words holding a slightly sharper edge than her meister's.

Maka flinched violently as if she's been slapped. "It's not impossible." She ground out, having stopped pacing but still too restless to sit as Kim, Jackie and Angela had. "I just need to be more…more-_argh!_" Lashing out, Maka reduced the chair laid out for her into a pile of splinters.

"Careful?" Angela suggested. Jackie's glare/warning was pointedly ignored. What? She was just trying to help.

Wordlessly, the Headmistress repaired the broken chair with a flick of her wand. Maka still didn't sit. There was no twitch or anything, but Angela was pretty sure that Headmistress just snapped.

"Ms. Albarn, I realize that you take this as a personal attack on your own abilities, but we must realize that there are much more significant problems at hand. The security of Hogwarts has been compromised! Not just Angela Leon, but the entire student population is at risk!"

_It's not the entire school in danger, is it? You know that, right?_

"I don't mean to belittle this threat, but we can deal with one witch. Now that we know she's here, it's just a matter of finding her. Your students should be safe, Mabaa may be aging, but she's not stupid. She wouldn't invoke the wrath of your community." The fact that it could be worse is left unsaid; Medusa had made herself and her threats clear where they concerned Angela, once upon a time. Be careful what you say, it just might come true. "I believe that Angela should remain enrolled."

_Thanks for asking the student in question what __**her**__ thoughts are. Real considerate._

"Her soul's wavelength has begun to stabilize and veered away from a witch's signature." Maka interjected, still too fidgety to sit down. "I agree that this is the best course of action that can be taken. The danger of the insanity wavelength taking over her has dropped significantly."

_Has it? Or is she just saying that?_

The headmistress sighed, looking away to one of the portraits on the wall. Thinking. Considering. In the meantime, Angela amused herself by studying the ceiling, which she hadn't realized had a map on it until now. _Here be dragons_, noted one corner. Angela made a note to tag along on Black Star's next mission to Romania.

"Ms. Leon," The elder woman finally spoke, drawing out her words like they were in some cheap drama flick. She was still staring at that painting, as if she was waiting for it to offer advice, but the frame was still empty. "Your enrollment is still valid. I will speak to your teachers and you will be allowed to take your exams." Maka nodded. "_However_, you will take them on an individual basis. For the moment, I would not like to risk the safety of any more of my students. We will reevaluate your case over break."

That, Angela figured, was the closest she'd ever get to a "we'd love for you to stay!"

* * *

Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were there waiting for him at the platform, and Teddy found himself swamped by James and Albus the moment his feet left the train. "We missed you Teddy!" The elder brother chimed on cue, arms locked fiercely around Teddy's waist; the younger Albus nodded vigorously, ear-splitting grin plastered on his face.

"Your mother would be so proud. Another Hufflepuff in the family." Had he mentioned his Granny was like a ninja? Teddy could feel her arms wrap around him in an embrace, but it was like they had come completely out of nowhere! She'd _obviously_ done a ninja flip and snuck in behind him.

"Pile on Teddy!" Ack! And _that_ had been Uncle Harry. From within the press of bodies, Teddy could just make out Aunt Ginny struggling not laugh as she held baby Lily.

"Alright boys, let him breath. Dromeda, you can keep suffocating him if you want. He's your grandson." Oh sweet oxygen, it had never tasted better in his life. Though, true to Ginny's offer, his Granny was still clutching at his shoulders.

"You're gonna haveta tell us evvvvvvvvvvvvvverything! I wanna know what Hogwarts is like!" Grinning, Teddy was about to start with the (barely true) tale of how he'd fed the giant squid, but a flash of pink hair further down the platform caught his attention. Ms. Kim was disembarking from the train. And behind her…

"Angela!" The brunette paused once she'd hopped down from the train, glancing around until she caught sight of Teddy. For a moment it looked like she started to jog his way, but Ms. Kim said something and she stopped. All Teddy got was a wave before the brunette turned to leave, trailing behind the pink haired medi-witch.

"Be right back-" This _begged_ investigation. Ms. Maka had just left the train as well, followed shortly by the dark-haired woman that could sometimes be spotted following Ms. Kim around. Angela was traveling with them, why?

"Angela!" Teddy tried again, dashing down the platform and trying so very hard not to crash headlong into some poor unsuspecting parent. "Angelaaaaa!" _Finally_. She turned to face him just as he caught up.

"Teddy!" Looking far happier than her guardians at the intrusion, Angela wrapped her arms around him for the fifth hug he'd received in the past minute. "Wasn't the potions exam just beastly?"

"I knowwww" He whined, still ignoring the fact that his presence wasn't exactly welcomed by all parties; and the fact that she hadn't _been_ there for exams. "I couldn't find you on the train. Where were you?"

"Ah…well…you…weren't looking hard enough?" Um…he'd traveled the length of the train. Twice. No way had he missed anything.

But, being the great guy he was, he let her off the hook. On that front at least. "I didn't know you knew Ms. Albarn and Ms. Diehl."

"They work at school. Of course I know them."

"Oh hah _hah_." He paused to gulp, summing up the courage to ask the one question he wanted to ask. And he steeled his face for a slap. Just in case. Because seriously, who knew with girls? They were so unpredictable it was scary.

"So are you okay? Garnet said that you really freaked out when you saw that graffiti on the Slytherin wall."

"Uh…"

"I mean, do you know what's up with it?"

"Angela, we have to go." Cut in Caretaker Albarn as she brought down a hand to rest on the brunette's shoulder. "You can chat over break." Something in the woman's tone told Teddy that that definitely wasn't going to be the case. Not to mention that Angela's discomfort wasn't doing her any favors on his suspicious-o-meter. The boy went for the time-tested counter; a guilt trip.

"You won't tell me?" Even Teddy could hear the pout in his voice, and that was saying something. Angela grimaced, fingers playing with the edges of her coat. She wouldn't look him in the eye.

"I'm not supposed to." She offered a shaky smile. "Sorry?"

"Angela," Ms Diehl, pushing a trolley with a rather strange assortment of luggage, was the one who'd spoken. He could just about hear her through his own thoughts; Angela wasn't _allowed_ to tell? "We're going to be late."

"I'll see you after break!" By the time he'd figured out what to say, she was already gone.

* * *

_Dun dun duuuun. And so begins the actual plot. Yay. _

_Much thanks goes to Ryo Hoshi and Kashii Ai for the reviews, they made me feel all happy and stuff. Hah, the thing about the crossovers sections is that people don't check them nearly as much as the main ones :P (I know I don't…)_

_Anyway, 'till next time!_


	3. Springtime

Teddy decided to ask for help at Christmas. After all, the assorted family friends that he saw every year at Uncle Harry's Christmas party probably covered a good ¾ of the different departments of the Ministry of Magic. So _someone _should've known _something _about Angela Leon and her problems, right?

It backfired fantastically. Instead of help, every time Teddy asked, he got a variant of "Aw, little Teddy's found a girlfriend!" Adults. Useless, the lot of them.

* * *

Angela's reappearance was so sudden and anticlimactic that Teddy could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw her simply wandering down platform 9 ¾ like nothing had ever happened. She was just…right there! Acting like nothing had ever happened and chatting with her roomates like she'd never dissapeared. Once they were on the train, Teddy lured her away from their gaggle of assorted friends with a few well placed chocolate frogs; wasn't too hard with _her _sweet tooth. And so began the questioning.

"It's a clan thing." Angela admitted as she scarfed down a handful of Aunt Ginny's homemade fudge. "Super secret clan stuff THAT YOU CAN'T TELL ANYONE!" Teddy nodded, though he wasn't intimidated by the condition. They'd already made a pinky promise, after all. He wouldn't dream of ever telling a soul under such an unbreakable oath.

"Basically, my witch clan is really evil and stupid and stuff. And they want me back! 'Cuz I'm super strong!" This was the Angela he knew, obnoxious and loud and somehow funny all the same. Not the quiet girl on the platform who shook her head and said that it wasn't possible.

"Maka and Kim are at Hogwarts to make sure that nothing happens to me. They're just really paranoid about letting people know what's up with my whacko clan. That's all." Somehow, Teddy doubted it was. They hadn't really covered the graffiti on the Slytherin wall, for example. But their carriage on the Hogwarts express was too comfy, and he was too happy that she wasn't mad at him to push the questions any further.

(And, even though he won't admit it, he was kinda sorta really terrified that if Angela told him anymore stuff, Ms. Albarn and Ms. Diehl would find out and beat him up or something)

* * *

_What's the point of having a power you're ashamed of if you don't ever __**use**__ it? If you're gonna say it's screwing up your life, might as well make it pay its rent, right?_

It was three in the morning in the Slytherin common room. Again. Angela nodded to herself, taking a breath and placing her wand on a nearby table. Practice time then.

"_Cama Lama Cama Chameleon. Invisibility!"_ The incantation had shortened a ton, which was the best news she'd had all week. It wasn't like she could choose how long it was, when calling on the magic in her soul the words came without any effort of her own. Fewer words meant that she was getting better, no questions asked.

And just like that, when she opened her eyes (both of them at once!) there was no sign that a girl known as Angela had ever occupied that space. Nothing. She glanced to the mirror. No reflection. And certainly no right hand. It meant victory.

It meant that she wasn't a total failure.

It meant that her wavelength hadn't really stabilized. Maka had lied.

* * *

"It's really pathetic how close you two are to failing History. We're in first year! What are you going to do next year? And the year after?"

Angela and Garnet didn't miss a beat. "Keep copying from you." They chimed in chorus with identical grins. Brenna could only groan helplessly.

"Of _course_. What was I thinking?"

"You obviously weren't thinking at all." Angela pointed out as she looked over Brenna's notes on the Giant Divide of 567.

"Obviously." Agreed Garnet as she paraphrased the last portion of her roomate's essay and claimed it as her own. "You do realize that at least thirty percent of the school cheats off somebody else, right? Muggle school is so easy compared to this, the jump is just too hard!"

"Well, true." Brenna began, chewing on the end of her quill. "It makes sense though, think about it. A majority of the jobs in the magical community involve hiding it from the muggle community in some way. The survival of magic depends on us being able to out-think a muggle."

Angela and Garnet looked to each other.

"Yes." Drawled Brenna. "That means you two are in trouble."

* * *

January wasn't all that great a month. They got their midterm results back, and Teddy was disgusted to see that he had done pretty badly across the board. Transfiguration and Charms were the only classes where he could claim any pride. His Potions exam, on the other hand, had a note taped to the bottom that he should see some of the sixth or seventh years about some tutoring. The same was true for Herbology, although that note was a little more expected since even _he'd_ been able to catch the sorry smile that Uncle Neville had been flashing him over break.

It worked out pretty well though. His roommate Hugo failed Transfiguration, so the git was suddenly a little more willing to trade his potions homework for a peak at Teddy's Transfiguration notes.

Angela's charms results were likewise dismal, though that might have had something to do with her missing the last week of review. Either way, they set up a similar exchange; her Herbology work for his Charms study guide.

The only odd one out was History of Magic. Teddy wasn't able to find a soul who passed.

* * *

Kim's healing wavelength washed over her like honey, leaving a sugary aftertaste in her mouth and a renewed bounce in her step. Angela felt like she could fly laps around the school towers! That was saying something, since flying scared the living daylights out of her nine days out of ten.

The medi-witch, however, didn't seem nearly as enthused as her patient. Actually, it looked kind of like she'd bitten down on a rotten lemon. Probably not a good sign. Angela decided it was best to get out of there as quickly as possible before she got some kind of lecture. As soon as Kim removed her hands, the brunette grabbed her cloak and went for the door.

"Angela?" Too late. "You remember what we said about practicing your magic, right?"

Oh _crap_.

"Yeah. Why?" Struggling to keep her face calm, Angela pulled her winter cloak over her shoulders and made to leave again. Kim stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm, holding the girl with more force than she appeared to have in her petite body. Plus, it kind of helped that Jackie was almost-but-not-quite glaring from her seat in the corner.

"The restorative powers in my wavelength are meant to counteract the destruction in yours, Angela. I can tell if there's a greater amplitude than normal." Rather blunt, wasn't it?

"Teen angst?" The girl offered, smiling faintly.

Kim's eyes softened, probably in pity. Gah, she didn't need pity. Only babies needed pity. But oh _wow_. Had Kim actually bought that?! "You're eleven, Angela, remember that."

"I feel older." _And you know why_, she wanted to add, but wouldn't. It'd just be redundant. A witch's soul was in a constant cycle of partial reincarnation. Spells were just the reclamation of memories from a previous life. Even now, the previous Chameleon Witches were there, lurking somewhere at the bottom of her soul.

She wasn't eleven.

"Same time next week, right?" This time, she managed to leave.

* * *

Angela got really weird packages. Weird, but cool. She claimed they were from her legal guardian, the one who traveled the world as a bodyguard and was stupid and loud and obnoxious, but an almost-decent guy all the same. (Her words, not his)

The guy managed to find and send the weirdest stuff though. One package was a bright pink water-bottle, the next an ancient helmet that looked suspiciously like it belonged in a museum. But there was one that really threw Teddy off. Kind of because it was such a random thing to send, but mostly because he figured it meant _something_ to Angela, hell if he could figure out what.

It was a wanted poster featuring the portrait of a younger guy with a bridge through his nose and a predatory gleam in his grin. "Demon Chainsaw Giriko" said the poster. There was a stamp of red ink that looked rather like a skull off to the side, and an attached note that the wizard in training never got to read.

Angela didn't say much about it when asked; only that it meant the guy was dead. The fact that she seemed relieved about it brought way more questions than answers.

* * *

"So who can demonstrate for us, hmm?" Professor Ritter clomped down one aisle of desks, surveying the students who were in various stages of panic. Made sense, probably only half of them had bothered to do the required reading last night.

"Ms. Leon!" Teddy grinned and nudged her with an elbow. Angela nudged right back. Meanie, making fun of her for getting picked. "Let's see some needle transfiguration." Their professor boomed, too wide of a smile on her face.

Transfiguration incantations were hard, disgustingly so. You didn't just use one word to get whatever it was you wanted, the incantation varied depending on what you wanted the item to become. So when Professor Ritter said needle, Angela didn't think _turn this into a needle_, she thought_ turn this into something silver and pointy!_ Except not in English. Stupid old magic. Making her learn a whole 'nother language.

"Your needle is green, Ms. Leon. Would you like to fix that?"

"Huh?" Angela looked down, blinking herself out of a stupor. Oh crap it _was_ green. Pretty bad, since the matchstick had been nowhere near green on the color wheel, and the silver of a needle wasn't any closer. Oops.

But the brunette couldn't resist one last mental stab at Transfiguration. Because honestly, when was she _ever_ going to have to turn a match into a needle?

* * *

It was their third flying lesson of the year, the one where Madame Hooch let the first years fly off and she pulled in some of the staff to stand in as muggles who might happen to spot a careless witch or wizard on their broom. It was perfect, Teddy figured, for some free flying. He'd heard from the second years that as long as you stayed over the forbidden forest and high enough that Hogwarts was just a greenish yellow blur, then you were in the clear.

It was there that he dragged Angela despite her screams that it was way _way_ too high for her. Pansy. He'd already shown off to his roommates, and now was the only chance he'd have to show her exactly why Ben Steiner was an idiot for not letting him on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. (He ignored her screams that she didn't care)

It was kinda cold up there.

So Teddy was halfway through a slothgrip-roll when his thoroughly numbed fingers simply forgot to hold onto his broom. The first year hung there for a moment, staring dumbly at Angela's look of utter horror before his knee gave out too and he was falling.

And suddenly, there was only the sound of the wind rushing by his ears and rapidly growing outline of the Forbidden Forest beneath him. He couldn't focus on anything but the single _oh __**shit **_factor running through his brain at a billion kilometers an hour, screaming from the top of its lungs that he's gonna die die die die die die…! He was too young to go! There'd been so much he'd wanted to do and Granny Dromeda was going to be so heartbroken and he'd told himself he'd live for his parents and he was gonna die. Die. He didn't wanna-!

Something, or someone, grabbed him around the waist and yanked sharply.

…And he was slowing down?! At ever so painfully small a rate, he was slowing down. Slowing down. Oh what nice words. Nice lovely words. Teddy looked over his shoulder to maybe see who was saving him, and found only a very long pink…thing. Taffy?

No. Angela's tongue, (which, apparently, could not only lengthen to over a hundred meters, but could support the weight of a falling eleven year old and slow him to a stop) was the sole thing keeping him from being a splat on the Forbidden Forest. Which, like her random wandless magic was so wicked. And again like the wandless magic, left Angela speechless and in a foul mood.

She lowered him to the ground in the forbidden forest, touching down only a moment or so later. Watching her tongue unwrap itself and fold neatly back inside Angela's mouth was so freaky but so incredibly cool. For him. The brunette didn't look nearly as pleased.

"I'll explain later." She sighed as Madame Hooch swooped in to see what all the yelling was about. (Apparently he'd been screaming the whole way down) "Be in your common room after midnight, I'll find you."

* * *

The spell was quick and painless, for her anyway. The witch slumped back against the wall all the same, panting heavily. It was absurd how much power that had taken out of her. This needed to be fixed. There was still life in those bones. Somewhere, deep down, there was life. But the witch had barely the strength to return to her room. Not nearly enough to lay the killing blow. This would be enough. It had to.

Angela slept on.

* * *

She never did find him.

It made sense, since Teddy was pretty sure Angela didn't have an invisibility cloak, and after-hour security had been majorly tight lately. Hair a disheveled mess from sleeping on the couch and too tired to change it, the brunet shuffled down to breakfast and was greeted with the news that made Angela's absence all the more likely.

Caretaker Albarn had been attacked.

The Hufflepuff table was a real-life rumor mill, since they got along with every other house and so heard every angle on a story. By the end of breakfast, Teddy had heard everything from a Basilisk petrifaction to a Sempersompor curse to alien abduction. The bottom line was this; Caretaker Albarn was in the wizarding equivalent of a coma.

Teddy was still digesting this when Angela came dashing to his table, out of breath and hair in an even untidier mess than his. "Sorry!" She panted, gulping down his orange juice. "It's just, Maka, she-" Teddy put what he hoped was a comforting hand on her shoulder. (Cuz girls were suckers for touchy-feely 'hope you feel better' contact)

"I heard what happened. If someone I knew had been…" what's a good word for it? _Was _there a good word for it? "…attacked, I don't think I would've shown either." Tears he'd expected. A hug he'd hoped for. Confusion was what he got.

Slowly, as if they were new news to her, Angela mouthed the words back to herself. Teddy had the horrible feeling that he'd just broken horrible news to a girl who didn't need anything else on her plate. That, or she was upset enough that even the reminder of it sent her reeling.

"Maka _caught_ me." The brunette finally mumbled. "She…" Something must've clicked, because suddenly the girl's eyes widened and she dashed from the Great Hall like Voldemort was on her heels.

Angela disappeared from class, again, for the last week before spring break.

* * *

_And so the plot thickens...one chapter to go. Hrm. Wonder what's up with Maka. And seriously, I think I have a thing for hurting her. I've sliced her almost in two, broken her ribs, crushed her organs, and now put her in something like a coma for unclear reasons. Um...yeah. I love her when she's kickass! Really! I'll need to work on that :P_

_Anyway, muchos thanks goes to Ryo Hoshi for the review, and to everybody who has story alerted or favorited or just read this thing. Later~!  
_


	4. Finals

The witch in training wasn't surprised to see that Maka already had a visitor by the time she got there.

Soul was slumped over the bed, one hand tangled with his once-meister's as if he could push life into the still body. The fact that the Death Scythe somehow pulled off a crossing of the channel on such short notice wasn't very shocking either. The two of them were always so…so…angsty? Dramatic? It was like every time something happened they clung to each other like barnacles.

Couldn't be healthy. And yet Angela still found herself jealous.

"An-chan-" The words trailed off, unsure, and it was only then that the witch noticed the room's other occupants. Spinning on her heels, Angela found faces that she'd been missing for months. Just like that.

"Hey shorty!" Greeted Black Star, loud as usual; a complement to Tsubaki's quiet and gentler call. The brunette stood there for a moment, mind still processing it all. If they were here, then that meant that Maka really had been hurt. That someone didn't think she'd wake up soon. That this was _really bad_.

The brunette didn't say a word. She only threw herself at Tsubaki and blocked out the world from within the folds of the weapon's shirt.

* * *

None of the teachers explained why a white-haired man was now on guard all the time in the infirmary, why a rather intimidating guy with blue hair was stalking the hallways, nor why Uncle Harry had suddenly been called in as a guest speaker for his Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Speaking of his Godfather…

The annoying thing about adults was that they tried to protect you from things they had no business shielding you from. Uncle Harry, for example, obviously knew what the deal was with Angela and her clan (if that's what was really after her), or else the school never could have gotten him to come on such short notice. So Teddy tried appealing to Harry Potter, the boy who lived, instead of Harry Potter, the man who became a godfather. It didn't work.

"At the time, yes, I wished I'd been told more." He allowed one day during break while Aunt Ginny was putting Lily to bed. "But in most cases, figuring things out myself kept me from doing something far too brash."

"Most cases?" Teddy echoed, the implication that this was one of those cases left unspoken.

Uncle Harry didn't answer.

* * *

Having another spell was terrifying. It pulled on her soul much stronger than the one for invisibility did, and it wasn't even an offensive spell. Or she didn't think it was. Maybe it could be? She could probably strangle someone if she had to, or bash them into a wall. All with her _tongue._

But whatever the case, common sense dictated that if she had it, she practiced it.

_You already have._

No, she hadn't. She hadn't had the time, with Maka being…attacked, and all the chaos that had resulted from it. This was the first time she was going to use it properly and of her own free will.

_It's not your first time._

It **was**.

* * *

Angela reappeared after break just as abruptly as she'd disappeared before it. According to Garnet, though, this time her stuff was gone from their room. Completely cleared out, and the house elves had even hidden away the bed and filled in the space with an extra wardrobe. The brunette was still in class though, which was better than before break.

It was only after much snooping that Teddy figured out where Angela was living. Halfway between the kitchens and the staircase to the Great Well, there was a portrait of Sir Zidane the Thief. And behind that portrait now lived Angela, the scary blue-haired guy and a tall brunette who he only knew about due to a well-timed midnight craving.

Nothing else, technically, had changed. She still sucked at charms and kicked his can at potions. Still terrified of heights on her broom and still pays more visits to nurse Diehl than the entire first-year class combined. Nothing had changed.

…except…

…everything had changed.

Because one day, as the two of them were crossing the lawn to the Herbology greenhouses, Angela suddenly stopped. Her shoulders seemed to cave in on her as she hugged her books tightly to her chest. There was no reason for the behavior, nothing that he could see that might've set her off. She just randomly stood there and let the tears run down her cheeks.

"Teddy," she finally whimperd, hugging her books even tighter, "I think I did it."

Nothing else really needed to be said.

She didn't explain that one either. He didn't tell on her. Pinky promises were binding, after all.

Like a princess from one of Lily's storybooks (storybooks that were _certainly_ never his!), Angela had been hidden away and was guarded by the fierce-ish dragon, and was being drained off all her happiness and life and stuff. Because every day that went by since her whispered words, she got quieter and quieter, and less and less likely to poke fun at a teacher or sling water balloons at people or make him do her favorite impersonations.

Something had to be done.

He just had no earthly idea what.

* * *

Even if it was just a security measure, living with Black Star was still as annoying as ever. He hogged the bathroom, for one. And snored. And smelled. And trained at the most random hours of the day.

So she escaped as often as possible. The longer she stayed with Teddy, Garnet and Brenna, the longer she was distracted. The longer she was distracted, the longer she could put off thinking about the three-star meister occupying a bed in the infirmary and how she'd gotten there.

Because when Angela had last seen Maka alive and well, they'd been on far from good terms. Made sense. She'd been caught redhanded, not only practicing her natural invisibility magic, but sneaking out of the perimeter that the blonde watched tirelessly each night. There'd been yelling. Screaming.

Something about how the magic was Angela's birthright and she should learn to control it.

Something about how Angela must've _wanted_ to lose her mind to insanity because after all the warnings she'd gotten, there was no other way to explain the betrayal.

Threats to run away.

Threats to send her right back to Shibusen and keep her there until she saw that she was way in the wrong.

Angela had not hurt Maka. But the Chameleon Witch probably had.

* * *

"And he's been missing how long?"

"A week?" Angela murmured distractedly, pacing down the corridor as her eyes scoured the walls for Mifune. Apparently she'd thought she was doing a good deed by letting the reptile run free. Teddy begged to differ, but she hadn't listened to him and now it was too late. So here they were, searching the lower dungeons for Angela's pet.

It was subtle at first; they were pretty deep into the Hogwarts dungeons so Teddy figured the stench was natural. But with each step, it got worse and worse, until he was holding his sleeve over his nose in the vague hope that it would protect him from the foul odor. And he wondered, was Angela following the smell?

Maybe she was, because when they turned one last corner, the source of the smell was laid bare. And it was as far from natural as you could get. Oh. And they'd found her chameleon, by the way. They'd definitely found him.

_A riddle for you. Who really killed Mifune?_ Read the wall. Underneath was the chameleon in question, pinned to the cobblestones and splayed out with his innards waiting for the world to see. Flies buzzed around the carcass like a black cloud, somehow drawn from all corners of the castle.

This was sick. Beyond sick.

"Angela-" Teddy began, suddenly remembering that the brunette was there. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. Get her out of there? Cover her eyes? The girl had sunk to the ground while he'd been staring, and was now curled into herself, shaking violently.

"If someone killed a person you loved, what would you do?" Angela whispered from the floor, refusing to meet his eyes. Teddy didn't answer. He couldn't. What would he ever do if he met Dolohov? If he'd ever seen Belatrix's wraith?

"What would you do, if they told you that someone else did it? But you knew. You knew they were lying." She continued in that same horrified whisper. The girl was clutching at her head and looked like she was a second away from screaming.

"I knew. I saw Giriko sleeping. Giriko didn't kill Mifune." She giggled, and Teddy couldn't help but take a step backwards. Something was wrong. Very wrong. He had no idea _what_ the hell she was on about and what this had to do with her chameleon, but something felt off all the same.

"I've ignored it. I told myself that it's the only answer. But that's a lie. It's a _lie_." The giggling turned to laughter, deep and scary like the villains from his storybooks. It wasn't Angela in there-! Couldn't be!

"That's wrong! Giriko did it!" Suddenly, Angela was speaking in her own voice again. Her fingers were digging into the side of her head as if she was trying to squeeze something out of it. Whatever she was trying, it wasn't working. Without warning, the girl cried out and her back arched against the stone floor.

"Angela!" Crazy stuff or not, she was in pain. Teddy ran forward towards the body, only to be thrown back by…something or other. He had _no_ idea. It'd been like a charge. Electricity? But where? What?!

"I _know_ who killed Mifune." The crazed edge was back in her tone. And if he squinted…was that a pink _bubble_ forming around her? Kind of looked like one. Sort of. Except now it looked like it had eyes and _woah_ that thing was weird.

"Angela!" He tried again with no clue what he wanted. Answers? Her safety? His? A wind picked up out of nowhere, slamming into him like a troll and throwing him back for a second time. Teddy spent moments against the stone column that had broken his flight and his back, dazedly staring up into the darkness of the ceiling. Slowly the wind died down, letting go of the dust that it'd picked up and allowing Teddy a look at the girl.

"Silly boy, I am the Chamaleon Witch." Her outfit had changed. When the hell had that happened?! There was a hat on her head now, grinning evilly at him with bugged out eyes and a tongue that wrapped in on itself. And that skirt was way too short. And-

"I don't understand! What's going on!?" His voice had gone hoarse from being slammed into the wall, and Teddy had this horrible feeling that he was bleeding. And Angela, she was-this made no _sense_. At all! She'd just been sitting there. And sure, Mifune had been her pet, but this was a little far for a _pet_ wasn't it?

In any case, the girl didn't answer him. Her attention was elsewhere.

The blue-haired man had arrived.

"Angela."

"I am the Chameleon Witch." The man grimaced accordingly; the words apparently meant more to him than to Teddy.

"You're Angela Leon."

"And you're a murderer."

"We're both right." That obviously wasn't the answer Angela had been looking for.

"Stop being so cool about it!" Her finger struck out to point at the man's forehead. "You killed Mifune. You _killed_ him. And you never told me!" Were those…tears?

"I'm gonna kill you." She muttered, eyes squeezing shut and hands balling into fists by her side. The blue-haired guy made no move to defend himself, he just kept watching her like she'd fall to the ground any moment.

Then she grinned.

"_Cama Lama Cama Chameleon! Sticky rope!_" Holy crap the tongue thing! Except this time it was from Angela's hand. But still, he'd recognize that thing from anywhere. It shot out faster than Teddy could follow, wrapping around the blue-haired man's neck and then squeezing.

Wait, what? The guy couldn't breathe, Teddy realized. What was Angela _doing_?! This was, was…he didn't know. His brain told him to go and help the guy out (because he might die!) but his body remained firmly in place against the pillar (because _he_ might die.)

"You're…not Angela." The man gasped.

"I am the Chameleon Witch." She repeated.

"What did you do to Angela!?"

"Angela is here. Angela will be the Chameleon Witch. Angela _is_ the Chameleon Witch. I have made sure of that." The girl nodded towards the mural (if you could call it that) on the wall. Did that mean, had she done it? Had Angela done that to herself? And, woah. This was utterly insane.

"Angela has ignored the evidence in front of her for too long, and you are the only bond to her that stands in the way of the Chameleon Witch. She ignored a witch's call to mass that I so _graciously _gave her." The tongue-that-wasn't-a-tongue tightened around the guy's neck.

"There is a proper motive in place for your death; our power, my power, is aligned. So now, I will-" Teddy had been expecting a final squeeze and then a flying head; something gross and gruesome and very un-Angela like. But the announcement was cut short as a black blade came charging down on the tongue out of nowhere. With a single slash, the blue haired guy was free and the witch fell back screaming and clutching her hand. Teddy tried to call out to her, again, but his voice was stuck somewhere in the back of his throat and refused to work.

The blade was attached to a guy's arm? It was the white haired guy!

"Black Star, are you okay?" Where had Nurse Diehl come from? Because she was suddenly there, supporting the blue-haired man as he fell from the tongue's grasp. And it looked like she was holding a cheese grater. So weird.

Some part of Teddy realized he was in shock.

"It's the insanity." The guy, Black Star, coughed. "It's gotta be doing this."

"She is giving into her destructive wavelength." Nurse Diehl's words were soft, but Teddy could hear them all the same. "Her soul is losing its individuality against its magic. I've seen this before in witches who fought their magic. The magic gains a mind of its own. It's pushed Angela to this."

"Can we fix her?" Mumbled the blue-haired guy. Angela slowly began to pick herself up from the floor, clutching her bloody hand in pain. "Will that stupid machine work on this?"

Nurse Diehl nodded. "It should." The blue-haired guy snorted in response, his hands tightening around…hey, the guy had been holding a weapon the whole time? Angela was on her feet by now, clutching her wand in her bloody hand. There was this long moment where no one did anything and Teddy could feel himself shaking all over.

And then they moved.

Whitey and the blue-haired guy lunged forward, each waving their blades. Angela only raised her wand. "Everte Statum!" The spell struck Whitey in the chest and he was thrown backwards. Teddy cringed, he'd done enough of that today to know it hurt. "I learned that in my first year. Just imagine what would be available if I'd stayed longer." She was grinning. Whitey was bleeding and she was grinning and this was, this was just too much.

He didn't realize his feet were moving until he was already holding onto the witch's cloak.

"Stop it Angela! I don't know why you're doing this! Stop it! _Please!_" The girl glared down at Teddy as he clutched at her shoulders, trying to shake some sense into her. He hoped he wasn't crying; too embarrassing. He hoped he was; maybe she'd get that this was wrong. The girl just glared, mouth caught in a half-snarl.

But she didn't blast him away. She didn't lift him up with that tongue and strangle the very life out of him. Was she stopping?

Chains came out of nowhere, wrapping themselves around Angela faster than Teddy could believe. In a moment, her arms were pinned to her sides and in another, her legs were immobile. The witch toppled, wand falling to the floor with a clatter against the stones.

Silence for a few beats.

"I'll kill you!" The snarl in her voice was audible, but the blue-haired man didn't flinch. "I'll kill you like you killed Mifune! I'll-" A sob broke through. "I'll kill-!" More sobbing and Angela's voice broke halfway through. Teddy couldn't watch.

"Which one is speaking?" Whitey murmured to Nurse Diehl. "Angela or the witch?"

The nurse shook her head. "They're the same." Of course they were the same. Why wouldn't they be? Teddy opened his mouth to being the flood of questions that screamed for answers, but the blue haired guy beat him too it.

"Sorry about this, kid."

The world faded to black.

* * *

The machine was metal and evil, and the witch struggled against the restraints that held her with all her might. But the cuffs would not give. The morality manipulator was not meant to be escaped from, after all. And the witch was just another criminal.

"You'll be all right." Tsubaki said, then let go of her hand.

Stein flicked the switch.

* * *

Teddy woke up in the infirmary and was promptly caught in a bearhug by Uncle Harry.

For the third time that year, Angela had disappeared from class. And along with her had gone Nurse Diehl and the men she was with. Caretaker Albarn was also missing from her bed, and could be found nowhere in the castle. Finals came and went, and Teddy spent the train ride home in the company of his roommates.

Angela didn't return for second year.

* * *

_And so ends the story. Haha, I hope I explained everything well enough for you guys :P Explaining the (rather brief) fight through Teddy's eyes was kinda hard, since I figured it would be hard for him to get past the "what the hell?" factor to actually give us some commentary._

_Again, thanks goes to Ryo Hoshi and Kashii Ai for their wonderful reviews :D_

_And now…onto midterms!_


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